Remember the Titans
Remember the Titans is a 2000 American biographical sports film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. The screenplay, written by Gregory Allen Howard, is based on the true story of African-American coach Herman Boone, portrayed by Denzel Washington, and his attempt to integrate the T. C. Williams High School football team in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1971. Will Patton portrays Bill Yoast, Boone's assistant coach. Real-life athletes Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell are portrayed by Ryan Hurst and Wood Harris, respectively. Plot In the autumn of 1981, a group of former football coaches and players attend a funeral. Ten years earlier in July 1971, at the integrated T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, an African-American head coach, Herman Boone, is hired to coach the school's football team. Boone is assigned to the coaching team under current Caucasian coach Bill Yoast, nominated for the Virginia High School Hall of Fame. In an attempt to placate rising racial tensions and the fact that all other high schools are "white" only, Boone is assigned the head coach job. He refuses, believing it is unfair to Yoast, but relents after seeing what it means to the African-American community. Yoast is then offered an assistant coach's job by the school board and initially refuses, but reconsiders after the Caucasian players pledge to boycott the team if he does not participate. Dismayed at the prospect of the students losing their chances at scholarships, Yoast changes his mind and takes up the position of defensive coordinator under Boone, to his daughter Sheryl's dismay. The African-American students have a meeting in the gymnasium in auditioning to play for the team until Boone arrives, but the meeting turns into a fiasco when Yoast and Caucasian students interrupt. On August 15, the players gather and journey to Gettysburg College, where their training camp takes place. As their days of training progress, African-American and Caucasian football team members frequently clash in racially motivated conflicts, including some between captains Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell. Through forceful coaching and rigorous athletic training by Boone, which includes an early morning run to the Gettysburg cemetery and a motivational speech, the team achieves racial harmony and success. After returning from football camp, Boone is told by a member of the school board that if he loses even a single game, he will be dismissed. Subsequently, the Titans go through the season undefeated while battling racial prejudice, before slowly gaining support from the community. Gerry even has his best friend Ray removed from the team because of his racism, following a game where he intentionally missed a block which consequently led to the near-season-ending injury of starting quarterback Jerry "Rev" Harris. Just before the state semi-finals, Yoast is told by the chairman of the school board that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame after the Titans lose one game, implying he wants Boone to be dismissed. During the game, it becomes apparent that the referees are biased against the Titans. Upon seeing the chairman and other board members in the audience looking on with satisfaction, Yoast realizes that they've rigged the game and warns the head official that he will go to the press and expose the scandal and have all the officials and anyone else involved arrested unless the game is officiated fairly. The Titans soon shut out their opponents and win and advance to the state championship, but Yoast is told by the infuriated chairman that his actions in saving Boone's job have resulted in his loss of candidacy for Hall of Fame induction. While celebrating the victory, Bertier is severely injured in a car accident with a truck after driving through an intersection. Although Bertier is unable to play due to being paralyzed from the waist down, the team goes on to win the state championship. Bertier would remain a paraplegic for the rest of his life. Ten years later, Bertier dies in another automobile accident caused by a drunk driver, after winning the gold medal in shot put in the Paralympic Games; it is then revealed that it is his funeral the former football coaches and players are attending, where Julius, while holding the hand of Gerry's mother, leads the team in a mournful rendition of Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye. In the epilogue, descriptions show the players' and coaches' activities after the events in 1971, however, there was no mention of Sheryl Yoast’s death which occurred four years prior to the film’s release. Category:Movies Category:Martin Luther King Junior Day